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If your an internet marketer, affiliate marketer, entrepreneur or someone who wants to use internet marketing on social networks, there are a few tactics and strategies you’ll need to consider before going after your intended target market.

Taking the time to carefully construct a social marketing campaign plan can be the difference between success and dismal results. Here are 7 marketing strategies, tactics and questions I would consider before attempting to use social media and social networks for marketing online.

1. What is the Ultimate Goal you are Wanting to Achieve?

Are you wanting to use social networks to brand yourself or your company? If so, then your approach would be entirely different than someone who is simply wishing to create numerous backlinks from high authority page ranked social sites. A branding campaign would obviously require a bit more time and effort. If your simply taking the shotgun approach and trying to get backlinks in an effort to rank highly in the search engines, then you may want to create a buffer between your social network profiles and social bookmarking efforts. In other words, once you have used the social bookmarking sites and have created social network profiles that have a link pointing back to your site, promote and link those sites which already have authority in order to give your main site a little extra boost.

2. Hobby or Money Site?

If your utilizing social networks to promote your hobby/special interest site then you probably don’t need to overthink your overall social media campaign. On the other hand, if your in this to make money, then your social networking profile and efforts need to reflect this in a balanced way. Add a fair amount of info, photos, videos and content to your profiles so that you do not give off the vibe that your simply on the social site to promote yourself or your site. Take the time to search out friends with relevant interests, as opposed to getting trigger happy with friends requests. Join groups that fall within the target market you should have already identified. Lastly, although you need to add content to your profiles to mix it up a bit, remember that your trying to drive potential prospects into your sales funnel or your offer. Your overall goal of your social networking profile should be focused on this, otherwise you might as well just consider your efforts a hobby.

3. Who is your Target Audience/Market/Niche?

This may seem obvious to some, but you should consider who it is your trying to market to on social networks. Hopefully you’ve done your homework, researched your niche and determined the demographics of who is most likely to be interested in your offer or what your promoting. For example, lets say you’ve identified that males between the ages of 45-55 are more likely to be interested in your offer, website your promoting, etc. It would not make much sense to spend an enormous amount of time on a social network who’s main user audience generally tends to be 14-21 years old. It’s a lot like traffic generation. Untargeted traffic, at the end of the day, will only eat up your bandwidth and focusing your efforts on social networks that don’t match up with your target audience will only eat up your time.

4. Consider Outsourcing Your Social Networking Efforts

It can be quite tedious and time consuming to create profiles, upload content, manage friends requests, and everything else that goes along with participating and marketing on social networks. If you have the financial means to do so, you may want to consider outsourcing the tasks of signing up on social networks and maintaining the day to day activities that go with it. If your just starting out, and have more time on your hands than money in your pocket to burn, you’ll probably want to manage your social profiles yourself. On the other hand, only you can determine what your time is worth. You may just find that its worth spending X amount of dollars per month to outsource your social networking efforts so that you can focus on other aspects of your business.

5. Consider Purchasing Advertising Space

Most social networks offer advertising space and in most cases it’s relatively inexpensive. Maybe you would like to determine whether its even worth creating a presence on a certain social site. Why not run a small test campaign to see how responsive your target audience is on a given network? Most sites enable you to drill down by various demographics for your ad campaigns, use that to your advantage and test the waters out. If your ads and offers are converting, keep the ad running and then take the time to either create a presence on that social network or outsource that task.

6. Remember Why Your There in the First Place

It’s easy to get distracted in our day to day lives. Nowhere is that probably more evident than on the web, and it could be argued that social networks are the biggest time waster of them all for some people. It’s very easy to look up from your monitor and realize you just spent 30 minutes Twittering about nothing, an hour and a half watching and rating viral videos on YouTube, adding friends, blocking friends that turn out to be spammers, ignoring spammy bulletins and friends statuses on MySpace, installing apps on Facebook, stumbling on StumbleUpon, Sphinning hoping others Sphinn you back…and before you know it 3 hours have gone by and what have you accomplished? Oh and don’t forget, you haven’t even checked your email yet. After you skim through the spam that made it past your junk folder, and the emails from all the social sites, the “so-and-so” is now following you on Twitter (who happens to be following 3,000 other people while only being followed by perhaps 5 people). Are your beginning to get the picture?

Social Networks can be a great place to market your offers, brand yourself and your companies considering the sheer number of people who hangout and interact on these sites. Just remember not to loose track of time, stay focused on your original reason for being on these sites in the first place. It can be a great to make some new friends, network a little and all that. But if your main reason for using social networks is to market yourself or your services and lead people into your sales funnel, remember that and focus your time strategically.

7. Create a Presence on Smaller Niche Based Social Networks

If you came across a social network that happened to consist of a small group of avid enthusiasts pertaining to the niche market you just happened to be targeting or had an particular interest in yourself, for example, a golfing social network and you were trying to market a golfing product online as an affiliate… would you consider creating a social profile presence on that particular site? Would you consider buying advertising space on that niche based social site? What if the site was just launched and had not yet built up a member base yet, but the site looked like it had a lot of potential? There are numerous niched based social networking sites coming online these days. While there is obviously room for more than just one or two players in any given niche based social networking site category, the ones that come across as complete cookie-cutter sites, out-of the box scripts and that are never able to attain a decent sized member base will eventually fold and close up shop if the niche is a fairly competitive one. Others will grow over time, evolve and be a gathering point of people who share similar interests. Why not create a profile on these niche based sites before there are 100′s if not 1000′s of members so that your profile is the one new members see first? Some of these niched based social sites are like diamonds in the rough, just waiting to be mined, that will grow over time into a highly targeted user base just waiting to be marketed to with a relevant offer. Personally, I’d much rather market to 50 – 100 people on a smaller network whom were obviously prequalified, targeted leads as opposed to joining a social site with millions of members and have a 1000 friends to contend with whom are not the least bit interested in the niche I was targeting or the offer I was trying to present. While your creating a presence on the larger social sites like Facebook and MySpace, try to identify some of the smaller social networking sites coming online that pertain to your market/target niche and create a presence there while these sites are in their infancy. Who knows, you may just discover a few niche based social networks that turn out to be hidden goldmines for your market before your competitors do.

Do we jump on the Social Networking Bandwagon because we do not want to miss the movement, or are we methodically looking at integrating this new avenue into our overall marketing plan?

I get excited when I hear about a new way to communicate with my customer base. There is nothing more important than opening a dialogue with a customer as they can provide the critical information that is required to move a company’s product or service forward.

A customer is a very precious entity and more companies need to appreciate that along with their product or service that their customers’ information is one of the most important resources that they have. A company would not haphazardly change a design or distribute a product to an unknown channel, nor would they randomly promote their service in unknown markets. Yet, companies are jumping on the Social Network Bandwagon to communicate with their customer, but many do not have a plan of action, they are just excited to tell you that they are now embracing Social Networking. Companies are spending money to be on or a part of Social Networking tools such as Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, MySpace, and Flickr to communicate with a customer that they do not know, in a fashion that may not complement how their customer communicates. Thus, they run the risk of being disingenuous and losing touch with a very valuable resource.

Social Networks can be a very powerful ally, but like all marketing channels, just because it exists does not mean it is right for you.

So, if you are looking to jump onboard the Social Networking Bandwagon, what should you be looking for, how should you act, and what should you not do?

I have a very basic way to look at social networking that revolves around the word social, which I like to equate to interacting at a social event [party]. At a party if you want to be successful mingling with the other guests you have to listen to what other people are saying, you may try to get to know more about the people you are talking with so you have more information to keep the conversation flowing, you communicate in a sincere fashion, and lastly you do not want to dominate the conversation otherwise you may be talking to yourself by the end of the evening. In many social environments you typically run into the same people over and over again, so if you were successful in prior interactions then you will be a person they may seek out to talk with.

Another important point for the word social is that social networks are typically an informal gathering of people who may be interested in exchanging information or just socializing. This is the key component as to why social networks are successful for general consumer use, but have a hard time being accepted into the business environment. People access their social network of choice drawn in by a desire to participate in a special interest forum, to hear what someone at a unique event has to say or to view a video on a subject that they have an interest in. They are interested in actively or passively participating, but that is their choice and there is no hype or alternative motive to being a part of that social network. Thus, if you are a business, you are interjecting a business conversation either directly or indirectly into a social network, which can create a barrier for open communications, and communications is the reason you want to participate in a social network.

So, if you jump on the Social Networking Bandwagon without a plan on how you want to use a specific social network, you may end up pushing your message to the customer and not listening to what they are saying; you will not earn their trust. If you do not earn their trust then you cannot take the next steps with regards to opening a dialogue, which would preclude you from soliciting information about your product or service.

Important facts for a Company to consider when working the Social Network channels:

Be Yourself – There is nothing worse for a business to do then to create a false image on a social network and then to be found out.
Listen to What is Being Said, Do Not Dominate the Conversation – Remember this is a social network; people are participating by their own choice. You have to earn the right to participate; you should not drive the conversation.
Be Authentic, Do Not Be Transparent – These points tie into being yourself, being honest with your communications, and to be open to listen to all feedback and comments.
Be Selective on Which Social Networks to Participate In – If you are being yourself, if you are being authentic and not being transparent then it would be impossible to retain an active presence on every social network, but you do not need an active presence on every one. If one social network channel does not meet your expectations then draw up a plan to look at a different channel and learn from your time on the other channels.
Your Marketing Plan is Still the Controlling Force – You do not toss your marketing plan out the window when you engage a social network, in fact you should have factored the use of social networks into your overall marketing plan to ensure that you are working towards a common outcome with your customers. Social Networks are not a panacea; they are just another channel to communicate with your customer, so manage your expectations and your perceptions.
Social Networking is a Mindset – Social Networks are a tool that you use, but how you use that tool and what you get out of it will differentiate you from your competition.

As I stated, I get excited when I hear about new ways to engage a conversation with a customer, and the Social Networking tools provide some great avenues depending on how you will interact with your customers and where you may find them. When it comes to marketing in today’s economy, and especially with social networks, it starts with your customer and it will always end with your customer, so make sure you know your customer.

Social Networking is another avenue within your overall marketing plan. Thus, just like you proofread every media document, review product packaging, and analysis feedback regarding services, you need to be actively involved and have a plan for using social networks that complements your overall marketing strategy.

The aim of any business is to be successful and profitable throughout the lifetime of the organization. The evolution of communication technology in recent years has helped make this possible by improving a business’s ability to network with its existing and potential customers. What once required face-to-face conversations and the physical exchange of contact information can now be done in an entirely virtual environment with just a click of a button.

Advances in communication technology, such as texting, blogging, emailing, media sharing and gaming, have created new social norms and revolutionized the way people communicate. It is no wonder, then, that the financial services industry is beginning to use various forms of Computer Mediated Communication (CMC) to enhance customer service and improve current products and services. The most popular form of CMC are social networking websites such as Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, and LinkedIn, which are used primarily to maintain or build connections among users.

Social networking sites represent a large market with tremendous growth potential that can be easily targeted by financial institutions if they know how to use these sites to their advantage. Like many organizations that have already experienced the benefits of using social networking sites to enhance their business, financial institutions are beginning to understand and embrace the power of social networking as it relates to their day-to-day business activities as well. Whether educating customers on new services, boosting customer confidence, increasing sales outreach or personally connecting with their customers to meet their banking needs – social networking is a vital communication tool that financial institutions can utilize in many of their customer business interactions.

Understanding Social Networking
Social networking is a form of collaboration and networking where individuals develop groups and associations, often forming a virtual community. While social networking is possible in a face-to-face setting, such as on a college campus, it is most often seen online in a CMC environment. The size and popularity of the “communities” created by MySpace and Facebook and other social networking websites have experienced substantial growth as more and more people invite their acquaintances, co-workers, friends and family members into these virtual communities.

The traditional roles of the sender and receiver involve delivering messages in a clear and concise way and providing feedback to achieve agreement of a particular subject. Social networking uses these same basic building blocks but accomplishes the end results in a slightly different way. The cues that help facilitate understanding in a face-to-face environment (e.g., intonation of voice, body language, facial expressions, physical distance, etc.) are often removed in a social networking environment. Though some websites offer an audio visual element, social networking is largely text-based, relying on “digital gestures” to demonstrate emotions and add emphasis to a message, such as:

• Forwarding.
• Recommending.
• Sharing.
• Tagging.

Social Networking Applications for Business
Networking has always been a key success factor in the business world. Networking involves linking together individuals who, through trust and relationship building, become walking, talking advertisements for one another. Traditional networking often takes place face-to-face at business lunches, conferences or exhibitions, where people are able to meet and establish mutually beneficial working relationships.

Online social networking offers many of the same benefits as traditional networking, while allowing bankers to more easily network with the average consumer as well as with their colleagues in the financial industry. Used appropriately, online social networking offers businesses the opportunity to develop meaningful, long-lasting customer relationships.

A study of the banking industry and the ways in which several banks’ board members networked with others showed that though these professionals are interested in using networking to secure new customers and to maintain and develop existing customer relationships, they also want to use networking to represent their banks in community, professional and trade organizations and to procure market trends and competitive information.

To achieve the goals identified in this study, board members and other bank employees must first understand what social networking is and how it can be used to position their banks above others in the industry. If properly trained, these employees can use social networking to achieve their banks’ organizational goals and place their banks in the top positions in the industry in the following five ways:

Social networking is currently being used to bolster the reputations of the financial institutions that use it, providing information both internally and externally. This type of information sharing builds consumer confidence and helps employees understand the importance of their roles within their banks and how they should strive to achieve the highest standard of customer service.

Challenges of Social Networking in the Workplace
One of the first challenges of integrating social networking with the workplace is helping employees understand the importance of using this technological tool. The next challenge is in addressing the training needs of the organization to bring all employees up-to-speed on the etiquette, functionality and general norms of such a medium. This means determining who will be maintaining the websites, how end users will experience the websites, and how policies and procedures concerning social networking will be shared, and with whom inside of the organization. And finally, relationship management in a virtual environment poses a challenge. This last challenge should be a primary focus when implementing a social networking-friendly policy or procedure.

A great deal of the CMC that occurs in social networking happens through what has become known as Social Information Processing (SIP) theory. The theoretician who first introduced SIP, Joseph Walther, stated that the nature of relationships created online can be drastically different from those established in person, particularly when individuals act differently than they would in a non-virtual environment. While Walther acknowledged that the rate at which these relationships are formed may change over time as individuals become more familiar with the technology, he argued that relationships in a CMC environment would take up to four times longer to establish.

To counter this potential limitation, banks might seek to make use of the theory of attribution, which states that individuals link observed behaviors of others with causal explanations to help them understand what type of people they are communicating with. The time to develop relationships can be shortened using attribution theory because bankers can use their observations to make product or service recommendations based on needs that they have established.

Using Social Networking to Connect with Customers
Though social networking poses its own challenges, it can also be used to overcome other challenges that banks may face. For example, social networking allows financial institutions to boost consumer confidence, increase sales, and strengthen customer relationships, which are all areas of concern as they can give a bank a competitive edge over others in the banking industry.

When consumer confidence is low and distrust of the banking industry is high, particularly in times of economic crisis, social networking has allowed for greater transparency and has opened up a conversation with consumers. The public forum created by websites like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and MySpace provide the financial services industry an ability to address customers’ banking needs by:

• Acting as a medium for customers to send their questions and concerns to a bank, with immediate feedback from a banking expert.
• Replacing one-sided information dissemination like press releases or bank-sponsored advertisements.
• Reassuring the public of safety and soundness policies and procedures.
• Eliminating skepticism through informative links, text, graphics and audio or visual elements.
• Educating customers about products and services that address specific needs.

Protecting Customer Information
One of the main concerns of financial institutions is the protection of information and financial assets. As technology makes it easier to communicate with people in remote locations or to conduct financial transactions, it also enables thieves to obtain customers’ confidential, nonpublic information, putting customers at risk of identity theft and other similar schemes.

Financial institutions have addressed these potential information security breaches by creating Know Your Customer (KYC) programs and prioritizing identity verification and the reporting of suspicious activity. The same precautions and care should be exercised when using social networking websites to ensure that customer information remains protected.

Implications for Legal Compliance and Record Keeping
Once a financial institution’s directors and staff understand the implications and proper use of social networking websites, it is important that the institution’s policies and procedures be revised to reflect the addition of these new business activities. This ensures that the institution remains in compliance with industry laws and regulations, and it demonstrates to the public that the organization is fair and respectful of customers and employees and that it works to protect its customers’ information and financial assets.

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) recently issued a publication that provides guidance to financial institutions regarding the use of social media in their business operations. FINRA Regulatory Notice 10-06 outlines the necessary recordkeeping requirements that financial institutions must abide by and provides guidelines for the supervision of non-static messages sent social networking websites.

Because social networking websites are fairly new and financial institutions are only just beginning to explore their potential uses, the twelve government agencies that control the financial services industry, in addition to other organizations like FINRA, are continuing to develop and amend regulations. For instance, the use of social networking affects advertising requirements for financial institutions, as stated in Regulations Z and DD. It also affects Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) membership, Federal Housing Administration (FHA) and non-deposit retail investment and fair lending implications. It is the responsibility of each institution to be aware of current regulations and how their use of these websites affects their compliance current law. Management should also understand the risks of noncompliance and be sure that their policies and procedures are updated to reflect these changes.

Final Word
Financial institutions must consider the risks and rewards of using social networking tools in their everyday business operations, and ensure that these tools conform to policies and legislation, while meeting the needs of their customers. Because customers are the driving force for success in the financial services industry, the key to protecting them is through employee education. It is imperative that bank employees are appropriately trained before and during the use of any type of social networking tool. Understanding how this new form of communication impacts the organization in the long-term can help a financial institution plan for and attain future success, while focusing on keeping customer relationships strong and information and financial assets secure as social networking becomes a more prominent business tool.

Introduction:
Companies after ever increasing the speed of utilization of internet and social networks by individuals decided to use social networks to become more and more popular in terms of their banding strategies, positioning, marketing activities, customers services and feedbacks, implementation of e-CRM and alike. People use social networks in order to communicate, share their ideas, and use the flow of information and other means of publishing information about themselves.

Although since 1990s, utilization of internet, many social networks and internet tools had emerged, it was not popular. Recently, through the development of social network in friendly atmosphere and with less complexity in terms of functioning for individuals, this service (social network service) has become part of people’s lives.

In terms of clarification of analysis on customer satisfaction, customer retention, and customer relationship management and customer feedbacks, social networks play a pivotal role. As a result companies have tried to utilize Social network services in order to better serve customers and obtain other various objectives. Most companies recognized that social network sites (SNSs) like Napster, Facebook, and Twitter and so on are the best places to them in order to highlight their brand image through which they can increase their market share, and sustainability.

What is a Social Network?
It is considered as a platform through which social relations will be built among people and information sharing will be facilitated. Through social networks sites personal information and relationships can be shared and users can stay in touch.

Most of SNSs provide a personal page for posting, ability to search for friends and other issues like updating profile and personal data and have the ability to restrict and/or conceal the mentioned information by page owner from the eyes of public or specific people.

These Online facilities (SNSs) have improved the movements of individuals on online tasks, especially in the mentioned social networks for the purpose of maintaining friendships regardless of distance (geographical limitation). Not only that but also it enables people to find better jobs and partners.

Regarding the acceptance of these sites by people, companies have become interested to get involved in this process through which they can sell their products and services and better serve customer ‘s needs and wants and through analysis of consumer buying patterns and their feedbacks they can fine tune their decision making process as well as their strategies.

Below information reveals the fact that how rapidly number of social networks increase since 1997.

Many companies during previous decade as a result of increasing the use of these networks have decided to penetrate into SNSs in order to find the relevant information of people, elicit information and analyze them in order to make appropriate decision based on market moves; not only in terms of customers but also in terms of competitors and rules and regulations. They aim at finding useful information in order to do external (Scanning, monitoring, forecasting, assessing), and industry analysis (5 forces of porter) as well as competitor analysis.

Usefulness of Social Networks:

Considering SNSs as a marketing tool, they help companies to interact with customers and create online communities and pages,

Updating latest activity of companies, advertisements and providing customers with applications necessary or useful in order to increase the traffic of their page, blog or community,

Facilitate the process of being aware of the company, and promote ideas, products and services,

Skipping search engine optimizations rankings,

It helps to get feedback from customers and to better implement the concept o electronic customer relationship management (e-CRM) and to classify valuable customers in order to serve them with value creating activities,

Focus on market, global reach, limitless number of customers who can be served, to better segment the market and customers,

Enables different model of advertising such word of mouth, suggestions for specific group or niche and so on.

Fastest way to get information and finding opportunities,

Social Networking Sites and E-commerce Businesses:
Although other methods of communication exist, they are to some extent different comparing to SNSs. Social network is a place in which individuals become fan of a page, they see each other and based on their mutual interest they become capable of interacting with each other and make a community on their own.

The mentioned issue is the result of shifting the power through utilization of SNSs from company to consumers. More social networks get popular, the tougher is the implementation of business based on traditional procedures therefore; companies must consider market moves in this case. Besides, by digging up the information available on these networks identification of valuable customers would be easier and a business can serve its valuable customers much better in this regard.

Regarding the accessibility of individuals to internet, companies moved from Brick and Mortar to Click and Mortar or to virtual one which resulted in operational efficiency improvement as well as generating revenue.

As companies are moving toward the above mentioned issue (adaptation of EC), they utilize several strategies to achieve success. They used various strategies in business and corporate level to reduce costs of transaction, reducing delivery time, to better serve the customers and to better manage them, and to better inform them about the current activities performing by the business especially for service companies. Accordingly, due to massive passion of individuals in case of using social networks like Facebook, twitter and so on, companies decided to reduce the gap between themselves and consumers by following consumers passion therefore, they started to make use of social networks and possibly other web 2.0 applications on extend their businesses.

In this era, almost all companies have websites and among them, some have social network to better communicate with customers which is linked to a website by the use of social plugins. Consequently, it is highly suggested to businesses that if they are not being first mover in Social networks, at least do never miss the chance of being late mover.

Impact of Social Networks on Marketing:
As it is mentioned above, individuals will be attracted to join famous social networks in order to create a profile and connect with existing members or pages or businesses. Once a profile created, users can interact with each other; send invitation for others to join. By the time a link shaped, communication to a friend, group members become easy because users tend to organize themselves by affinity, life stage, and psychographics which would be an excellent chance for targeted marketing.

Impact of Social Networks on Purchase Intention:
Through the use of social network as mentioned before members share their ideas, they may talk about different thing even including the recent product they bought or a particular type of service given to them or offered by a company. Many people around the world believe in talking to other consumers in order to get the required information before purchasing for a good or service (a matter of trust factor-word of mouth). And nowadays consumers due to availability of information on the internet they prefer to search online and when going online they more like to go to social networks in order to find more information from other customers, and what have been shared on social network pages of a particular company about certain type of good or service.

Form the eyes of marketers the information shared is vital for companies regarding the fact that information shared are the real facts mentioning by customers/consumers, and friends or fans of a particular group may rely or trust on other people (or fans) when saying facts.

In terms of marketing, in social networks various marketing aspects can be covered.

Word of mouth,
Market research,
Market segmentation,
General marketing,
Communication between customers as well as employees,
Public relations,
Customer service
Management of reputation and brand positioning,

Marketers use network marketing because of its various benefits which some of them are:

Product increase and brand awareness,

Being online helps companies to increase the awareness of their products and services especially through social networks sites.

By every interaction, marketers try to indirectly lead members or fans to follow the news of companies and everything and remember the brand and website.

Increase the traffic,

All companies try to increase the traffic of their websites by using various methods like communicating, recommending and postings on SNSs followed by a link in order to guide a fan or member to the official website and let them know their available products and services.

Improve search engine optimization (SEO),

In order to increase the popularity of a website companies need to share more links everywhere so that search engines find the contents follows by link easily. In this case people will read more of the content a company shared. Social media must be part of search engine optimization strategy.

It is worth mentioning that the value of finding content on SNSs is very much because they appear natural to search engines.

Increase loyalty of customers,

Brand loyalty will be achieved when a company can promote its services or products via social networks. By releasing true valuable content, trust go up and reputation of company increases.

In the process of using social media customers feel that they are participants rather than being only a user. If they feel they are participant they will be more involved and as a result of customer involvement and value creating activities of company customer loyalty increases.

Increase the success rate of lunching new good,

Regarding the fact that flow of information is very high in SNSs, understanding customer needs and want become easier which can be considered as a unique opportunity of social networks. Accordingly, companies can serve customers better by lunching goods appropriate to the tastes of consumers and manage product development process in order to increase customer loyalty and retention.

Impact of Social Networks on Sales:
SNSs are helpful in case of acquiring more benefit and possibly increase market share in competitive market. Through the utilization of social networks companies will find new method to serve customers better based on their expectations and their needs, to find customers, communicate with them and understand them in order to acquire new customers and also to retain the existing one.

Although it is a good opportunity, in some organization still a vague attitude toward utilization of social networks exists. Through social networks a salesperson can achieve benefit of having access to profiles before the commencement of communication.

SNSs and e-commerce businesses have made the world very small because they have eliminated the geographical limitations as a barrier for marketing and sales and by going online, they reduced the number of intermediaries therefore; firms may sell more and achieve more profit.

To exemplify, Facebook has millions users and many of them are over 18years old and its traffic is high. Therefore Facebook can be a very good place to do promotional, customer centric activities in order to increase sales. Also lots of pages exists that users are involved in. Sales persons and marketers can analyze the insights of the pages. Every page reveals information about daily, weekly and monthly active users, demographic information, daily feedbacks and so on which can be used to analyze the customer behavior pattern and customer relationship management which ultimately results in increase in sales.

Consequently, through penetrating into social networks, businesses have an access to vast majority of consumers. So creating account in social networks and joining groups leads to expand contacts and increase sales.

Impact of Social Networks on Services:
Individuals using social networks are increasing day by day. So the rate of communication among them increases. These communications can be about social stuff or about a product or service they purchased. These communications among individuals can be considered as an opportunity and also a challenge for customer service departments. Customers mainly like to receive a service based on their preferred channels. Because customers reveal their opinion widely if they are not pleased which result in detrimental impact on a firm’s product or service.

Through social networks companies receive feedbacks from customers which lead them to improve the quality of services/products as well as finding the best opportunity based on customer’s needs and wants. Therefore customer service channels like Facebook, twitter and alike can be used as a tool for performing value creating activities.

It is worth mentioning that through SNSs many problems between customers and company can be solved on the spot and it would be easier to reduce cost of services.

In this case some social networking accelerator tools exist like (Microsoft Dynamics CRM) to better manage, handle and monitor customers. These tools perform activities like:

Monitoring SNSs for branding issues and keywords,
Tracking customers,

SNSs also provide efficient multi-channel service which leads to reduce customer service calls and direct contacts and costs related issues.

Some social network accelerators help to better analyze customer’s feedback and to track the feedbacks easily. Not only that but also to monitor their activities and participating in communities to identify customers service pattern and trend.

In business there is a lot of talk about the power of social media for attracting fans and followers, but one of the most useful functions of social media is networking with other professionals. Many sales these days, come through referrals and having a tight network of other business owners around you, and can help build up the sales that you desire.

What is Social Networking?

Social networking is about connecting with other people who have similar needs and interests to yourself. As the Internet has expanded, it has become much easier to meet people who are interested in the same niche as yourself, even if you live in a remote area. Online social networking allows you to extend your contact base, outside the geographical area that you live in, and connect with people outside of your town, your state and your country.

Social networking is about forming relationships that function to serve both parties. Often this will simply be having a chat about the things you have in common, and over time you will develop a sense of trust and be more likely to refer business onto each other. Remember that social networking, like all good relationships, takes time and it is a long-term solution to good business partners and successful sales.

What are the Benefits of Social Networking in Business?

People are resources that can be used for many different things. If you are working on your own, or in a small business, you won’t have all the skills that you need to run your business effectively. Quite often you will need to outsource to other businesses, like web professionals or graphic designers, and if you have a good social network of other business owners you’ll easily be able to track down quality services at competitive rates.

You may also form relationships for service exchanges. For example, a business coach may offer their services to a web designer, in exchange for the design of their new website. No money has been exchanged, but both parties are happy, and this win-win situation is a common outcome from the time invested in online social networking.

Also, sometimes it is just great to bounce ideas off other business owners. If you work on your own, you can create your own ‘virtual team’, who function just to give each other moral support as friends would. This works well if you are working from home, and are online all day. If you connect with other business owners who work the same way, you will have peer advice that is ‘on tap’ for you whenever you need it.

How can I use Social Media to Network with Other Business Owners?

Social media can be used to network with other business owners. Firstly it is important that you meet new people, so sites like Twitter and LinkedIn can assist you in finding those first introductions. Perhaps your first contacts are people that you already know, from old jobs or people who you met at trade shows or conferences. When you track them down on social media you get to have a catch up, find out what each other are doing, and keep in contact as business social networking partners online.

Make contact yourself. Look up people that you have connected well with before, and say hi. Send them a message or an invitation on the social media site of your choice, and ask them what they have been doing.

Act confident and there is no need to be shy about social networking. There is nothing intrusive or wrong about it. You are not trying to sell. You are just trying to use online tools to develop valuable and genuine business relationships.

Avoid being pushy. Sometimes people are busy and it will take time to work out who will have online discussions with you and who won’t. Be respectful and the same courtesy and manners that apply offline also apply online.

Which Social Media Sites Are Best For Online Business Networking?

Facebook is great for people that you know, however many people prefer to keep their profiles for close friends and family only. There are no rules about this, so just be aware of different people’s preferences. There is also no reason why you can’t network online with friends and family members with shared business interests.

Twitter is a fantastic site for social networking, however you need to interact. Don’t just view the tweets, reply to them. Introduce yourself, make conversation, tweet yourself and get involved in the key topics of interest. If you like someone’s tweets, add them on LinkedIn which is the ultimate of business networking. LinkedIn is all about networking for business, so take a look, because that’s what everyone is there for!

A few decades ago, it was hard to find a good teacher. The only option that you had was to look for one in your area because the Internet was not available at that time. Nowadays, the internet has made it a lot easier to learn from the comfort of home. If you have been thinking of taking a certain course to hone your skills, we suggest that you check out Udemy. Let’s find out how people make money on Udemy by launching courses through websites. Read on to know more.

What Is Udemy?

Basically, this platform brings both students and teachers together. As a matter of fact, Udemy is one of the top platforms for online courses. It offers a lot of free tools and support for instructors to develop courses and make money from them.

Udemy allows anyone to create a course and offer it to everyone across the globe through its platform. Nowadays, the platform has more than 15 million students from more than 190 countries. Moreover, it has courses in more than 80 languages.

Launching a Course

If you want to submit a course on Udemy, you may want to follow the steps below. We will talk about each step in detail so you can get started without any problem.

Sign up

First of all, you may want to go to the home page of Udemy and sign up for an account, which will cost you nothing. As soon as you have signed up, you can access tons of free as well as paid courses.

Course creation

After signing up, you can hit the “Teaching” button. The “Create a course” button will show up that you can press to create a course and become a tutor.

Udemy revenue model

For course creation, Udemy won’t charge you any fee. On the other hand, for selling, you do have to consider the revenue model offered by the platform. Let’s find out more about the revenue model.

Instructor promotion

After a lead generation, the entire revenue goes to the course instructor. For instance, if a lead is generated through the coupon code given by the course creator, the instructor will get the revenue.

Organic traffic

If the course buyer comes to the platform through organic traffic, 50% of the revenue will go to the course creator. And the rest will go to the website. So, there is a lot of money to be made even if you don’t use other means to get the word about your courses.

Other revenue sharing model

This revenue sharing ratio can be between 25% and 97%. Actually, the ratio is based on the fact whether the customer comes to the platform via deals, ads or affiliates. So, based on these factors, the revenue can be more or less.

Resources for Udemy

Udemy helps you throughout the process. Whether you are going to create a course or you want to promote, the platform has resources for you. Udemy offers tons of free resources that help you make your course a success. As a matter of fact, the free resources on this platform are on the list of the best advantages of Udemy, as they help you make money from your course without too much struggle.

So, if you have been thinking of creating a course and publishing it on Udemy, we suggest that you take into account the advice given in this article. Just make sure your course is interesting and it can help your students learn new things. And that’s all you need in order to sell your courses and make a lot of money.

If you have ever spent time looking for ideal solutions to success online, you could find yourself very frustrated. You found that there are basic ways to succeed in this line of work. You know that online work isn’t hard, physical labor. Working online is easy in that there isn’t a lot of physical work involved. People who work hard as builders, factory workers, office personnel and in administration, must work hard and produce good results or they no longer have a job. Online work isn’t hard physically. However, it takes tenacity, perseverance, and a little knowledge to be successful. Perhaps herein lies part of your annoyance. Let’s look at some things that bring frustration into your ideal online performance. The items are not listed in any particular order of difficulty or ordered frustration levels.

Number 1, Building a Website

The number one thing that frustrates many people and keeps them from being successful online is building a website. This one thing kept me from being successful online years ago. When you find the right training building a website can be really easy. You don’t have to know HTML to build one today. You can learn how to make a website at certain locations on the Internet. There are places where you can learn how to make a free website.

Number 2, Finding a Domain Name

The best way to relieve frustration from finding a domain name is to first find the niche you want to promote. The name of your site needs to match the niche you have chosen. So, the way you keep this from being frustrating is to identify your niche, and then write a list of 10 to 15 names that describe your niche. It’s like choosing a title for a book, the title must tell what the book is about. Same with your domain name. It must tell what your niche is about. I prefer to stick with a .com. It’s just a personal preference that you don’t have to adhere to.

Number 3, Getting Site Ready

Until you learn, getting your site ready for search engine optimization can be really frustrating. Actually, it can be next to impossible if you don’t have the proper training. Again, I have a page for you to review that explains the ins and outs of preparing your site for SEO. Again, you can write articles, use social media such as Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest. The big question you need to ask is, “Where are you going to get the training and knowledge on how to make these ideas work for you?”

Number 4, Getting Traffic

The number one goal for any marketing site is to drive traffic to it. There are many ways to do this, but the only way I choose to do this is by writing good content for my website. What if you can’t write, or at least you think you can’t? Many sites offer training on how to write.The training on a few sites is phenomenal. Every bit of the training is to help you build a site, monetize it and then drive traffic to it. You can learn so many ideas on what to write that you will never run out of something to write about. Getting traffic is almost done for you. All you have to do is follow directions.

Number 5, Training

Before I found a helpful site, training was my nemesis. The lack of training defeated me every time and cost me money. The training I have gotten has given me a handle on success. I have learned how to succeed because I have been trained well. Following are a few things I have been able to find online:

Certification Courses: 5 Levels

1. Getting Started

2. Build Your own Traffic Producing Website

3. Making Money!

4. Mastering Social Engagement

5. Achieving Maximum Success Through Content Creation

Each level has several courses and the training available to make you successful! I repeated most of the lessons. Some were simple but needed more exploring. Others were new to me and my then limited expertise. I can’t believe how much knowledge is packed into these lessons. Yet the progress from one step to the next is given in easy steps for those who aren’t technologically proficient when they begin the courses.

You Get All the Training

Every site that I tried before this would promise they could teach me how to be successful. What they taught me was that I needed to hire a group of professional online gurus to help me build a successful online business. I paid good money to learn this, too. Their ads said that even a monkey could learn how to use their program. I guess that I’m not as smart as a monkey because I couldn’t begin to understand what they were trying to teach me. “You’ll never believe how easy it is to make money online,” their ads read. I learned the hard way, out of pocketbook hard way, that paper will lie still and let you write anything on it. At least the paper they wrote on did! I was never able to follow more than the first couple steps. Not nearly enough to learn anything. However, all that has changed now. Since I found this site, I have learned how to be successful online. All I’ve done since I’ve been here is grow and grow. That’s where I am. That was what I was looking for in the first place. Can I tell you that I found a place where you can work at your pace, make the amount of money you want to make, and work when and where you want to.

Work for Yourself

The best boss you will ever have is YOU. Working for yourself online doesn’t require lots of energy. You don’t have to have a specific location where you go to work. With today’s technological advances, you can work from nearly anywhere. I prefer to work at home with my family nearby. That’s where you can find yourself, too. Are you ready for the change? Are you ready to be your own boss? Then don’t wait! Visit me to begin today!